Commercial brands, owners, and property managers of, for example, commercial properties offering hospitality services have become more cognizant of the role water plays in the customer experience. Moreover, brands, owners, and property managers are more aware of the impact of a negative experience advertised on social media may have, as well as the direct impact a direct experience may have on occupancy and room rates. Heretofore, these players have regarded water as a relatively inexpensive commodity. Thus, the costs associated with water have mainly been focused on usage. However, such costs only make up a portion of the equation.
Indeed, according to a social media study of negative reviews of American hotels, after problems associated with a hotel's Wi-Fi network, the second largest complaint category comprises complaints about water. More particularly, about 90 percent of the water complaints revolve around the shower, viz., inconsistent water pressure, insufficient hot water available, and other, general shower issues. In short, water—and, more particularly, the delivery of hot water to a hotel guest—remains high on the list of pain points for brands, owners, and property managers. Moreover, well beyond the relatively inexpensive cost of a gallon of heated water, the inability to deliver heated water to a hotel guest in a manner and at a time desired by that hotel guest may result in guest complaints, in adverse publicity (e.g., via social media, word of mouth, and the like), and in monetary reimbursements to guests.
Guest complaints about a (e.g., hot) water issue may result in an immediate economic loss to the brands, owners, and property managers due to the property manager having to reimburse the amount of the hotel guest's night stay. Furthermore, the complaint may affect the dissatisfied hotel guest's future decision on where to stay. Moreover, if the dissatisfied hotel guest shared her dissatisfaction with others (e.g., via social media), such bad publicity may affect the brand's reputation, which may affect the decisions of other potential guests. As a result, the costs of delivering a gallon of hot water to a hotel guest may far exceed the costs associated with just heating the water.